Remember the old woman who lived in a shoe? I don't judge her nearly as harshly as I used to, now that I have a husband and six children. In our 100-year-old farmhouse, we have broth, bread, and lots of Smucker personalities, and this blog is about our lives.

Tuesday, December 31, 2013

Conquering Fears & A New Start

After 8 years and 9 months, it was time.

Regular readers may have noticed that Life in the Shoe has always been pink. Pink around the edges, pink in the middle, pink header.

I didn't change it, ever, because:
a) I like pink.
b) I don't enjoy fiddling around with wires in the attic of my blog or rusty water pipes down in the basement.
c) I had this terrible fear that if I changed the template of my blog, all my posts would disappear.

My children tried to talk me out of that last fear, which is about as effective as trying to logically talk anyone out of any fear.

"There is no way a garter snake is going to hurt you!!"

"Where did you come up with that particular connection? I mean, that's like saying everything will disappear when you post another blog post. It's just a normal thing to do on your blog."

They also tried not to laugh at me, but I did notice a few significant shared glances when the subject came up.

Finally I decided the time had come. The end of 2013 was approaching. 2014 was going to begin.

I Googled how to back up a blog and sweated through that process.

Then, as you see, I faced my fears, told everyone around me to stop talking so I could concentrate, and changed the template. It was a lot easier than I had expected. And, as nearly as I can tell, all my posts are still there, even a few that probably ought to disappear.

My blogging friend Luci says that a post should have a point. My point is that most of us have fears and most of those fears are not logical at all, but that doesn't lessen their size or import.

But the end of one year and the beginning of another is a good time to take a deep breath, Google the directions, and attack the most humiliating fear on your list.

Purple is quite pretty, don't you think?

Quote of the Day:
Emily: Can I talk now?
Me: No, I'm trying to think of a word.
Emily: What word are you trying to think of?

I come originally from what we used to call "AOL J-Land." We all went through much the same blood sweat and tears as you describe here when AOL decided to shut down our community and politely invited us to blog elsewhere.

I began feverishly copy-and-pasting entries into a new blog at blogger ...had made it through about the first 3 1/2 years of posts (had been blogging since 2003, the AOL diaspora happened in 2008) when they came up with a method by which we could import our journals to blogger. It was terrifying.

But all's well that ends well, and I have been at blogger for an additional 5 years and counting. I find it incredibly user-friendly, and messing with templates is safe and fun. (But I create my entries in "Word," then copy and past them into the blog, so I always have a copy of my essays somewhere besides the ether...) It works for me...

About Me

Follower of Jesus. Wife of Paul(Mennonite minister, school principal, and grass-seed-warehouse operator). Mom of six. Columnist for Eugene Register-Guard. Author of Ordinary Days, Upstairs the Peasants are Revolting; Downstairs the Queen is Knitting, Tea and Trouble Brewing, and Footprints on the Ceiling.